Faded Reality is a hidden object title that is really confusing. The story isn’t developed very well or told in a way that makes sense, and it ends up abruptly. The hidden object aspect is good, but very simplistic. It has a unique feature that gives it an innovative twist, but doesn’t really elevate the game.Â And the mini-games, for the most part, are tedious. It’s not a great game, but it could have been.

The story involves a woman who recently had a cornea transplant, giving her back her vision. Along with the new sight, she also sees visions – of the past and – maybe the future? It was hard to understand what was going on beyond the initial concept. The story was told in a sentence or two every new scene and most of those sentences were pretty nonsensical. She was travelling from location to locationÂ – places she saw in her vision – trailing behind a murderer killing people who seemed to have something odd about them. It ends quite suddenly and without any explanation or resolution to the story. We suppose it’s a cliffhanger, but we honestly couldn’t care less to learn what happens next, so they didn’t succeed in keeping the story entertaining enough to want to play another round.

The Secret Legacy: A Kate Brooks Adventure is probably one of the worst hidden object games we’ve seen in a while. The problems are numerous and the story is almost irrelevant. The hidden object aspect lacks the most important part of a game – fun. There are technical issues and, even mixing up the variety of gameplay and the elements that actually would have set thisÂ title apart, the execution is unsuccessful. There is one shining spot, but unfortunately, it has nothing to do with the game itselfÂ – and that’s the side story told by ancient Egyptian tablets.

The story begins soon after the death of Kate’s grandmother. It looked like an accident, but through the course of Kate’s investigation, she discovers her grandmother was murdered. Searching further, we discover letters from Kate’s grandmother and clues into her research, as she apparently knew she was going to be killed. Who the murderer ends up being and how the game concludes is a huge disappointment all around. There is a side story involving a pharaoh, an arranged marriage and a slave that is compelling and an entire game could be made off that story – it would drive a game well. This story is told only when a player finds one of the eight tablets hidden in certain scenes. This story is the only thing about the game that makes it playable – it’s fascinating.

Stray Souls – Dollhouse Story is a hidden object/adventure title. The production value is stellar. The story is haunting, the hidden object gameplay is excellent and the adventure aspects are polished. Two things take this from a perfect game to a must play imperfect game, and those are its length (it’s pretty short and leaves us wanting more) and the lack of any extra features, like trophies or bonus modes.

A newly married couple are settling into their home when the unthinkable happens. The husband, Sam, opens the door, sees a box and immediately disappears. His wife then embarks on a journey to discover what happened to him, in the process, learning about his history and some secrets he failed to mention. This journey takes her to a haunted town, where she must save Sam from destruction. The story really shines. The ending is excellent, although a bit abrupt. All along the way, elements that might be confusing are explained, so we were never left wondering about anything relating to the story. It’s a very satisfying tale, if a bit on the scary side.

Garden Dash is the latest game in the Dash series of games. It’s a time management title set with the business woman, Barb,Â from the Diner Dash games – where she turns from a business woman to a gardener. It’s an OK time management title, not too terribly long, but it’s not as polished or fun as the other Dash games. There’s also no endless mode, something the recent Dash games have lacked and we miss terribly.

The story is simple – Barb is overstressed working the corporate grind and is forced to take a vacation. Flo suggests she take up gardening, and being the overachiever she is, she can’t do it half way. She starts gardening and selling plants. There are five zones and fifty levels total (ten in each zone), ranging from a playground to the rooftop of her job. There is a second difficulty unlocked for each zone once a zone has been completed, but the only difference appears to be in making expert impossible to get – really not much of a bonus mode at all.

Recently, we took a look at the first six games in the Dream Day series, hidden objectÂ titles that have evolved nicely. With Dream Day True Love, the series takes a step back in gameplay but a step forward in story telling. It’s hard to knock this game with an amazing story of 70 years of marriage (based on a true relationship). However, despite the emotion, the lack of hidden object scenes makes it hard to recommend it on its merits. There are missed opportunities in this title and we’re not sure why that happened.

The couple, Bill and Helen, met in 1939 while Bill was on leave, being in the military. The story of their meeting was adorableÂ – they went to a dance with different dates and left with each other. The game proceeds to give us glimpses into their lives together, told in ten year increments with each milestone wedding anniversary. The player is still the wedding planner, but in this case, we’ve been hired to throw a 70th wedding anniversary party to be held at an old family home. It’s a beautiful story and hard to imagine living long enough to spend 70 years with someone. The fact that the story and the photos are all real creates a wonderful narrative for the game.

Matching games are a popular sub-genre of the PC casual game and have even made their way onto consoles and phones. Vesuvia is a matching game with a minor twist, an OK story and absolutely no variety to the gameplay, which turns it from a semi-interesting and fun game to a dull game that goes on way too long. We often complain about a game being too short and leaving us wanting more, but Vesuvia is the opposite, and the fact that it ends with a possible hint at a sequel doesn’t leave us excited, but instead dismayed.

The story goes: Jake wrecks his ship and gets stranded on an island (that appears to be sentient, Lost anyone?) and runs into two other people who have also been stuck on the island for a long time. He wants to get off and he follows a path with clues to figure out how to get off. That’s the story in a nutshell, and it’s told through a variety of mechanisms, from voice-overs and cutscenes to a diary with clues found along the way. All of this is very well done, although there was one part where a grammatical mistake really bothered me (improperly using ‘and I’).

Letters from Nowhere 2 is the continuation and conclusion of the game and story started in Letters from Nowhere, which left us with a cliffhanger. It’s a hidden object title, with a smattering of relatively easy puzzles thrown in throughout the game. The story is fair and the hidden object aspects are ok, but what saves this game from being simply mediocreÂ are the trophy system and theÂ unlimited mode. That’s not to say those additions make it a great game, but it’s not terrible either. And for the overachiever, there’s a lot here.

In Letters from Nowhere, we discover thatÂ a husband has gone missing and the wife goes on the investigative hunt to track him down. She receives letters from a mysterious source, which turns out to be a ghost. In this second game, instead of letters, we’re looking for diary entries from a man who disappeared while he was investigating the strange disappearances in a small town decades earlier. A black cat is following us around from scene to scene, and is the special hidden object which must be found in order to unlock sections of the game, along with the three stamps per scene as in the first game.

Snark Busters 2: All Revved Up is a follow-up release to Snark Busters: Welcome to the Club – a welcome one at that. The first title was extremely fun and the second follows in its footsteps. A different character awaits this time, but the story is just as whimsical and enjoyable as the firstÂ one. The gameplay at its core is hidden object, but it plays more like a classic 90s adventure title than a traditional hidden object game, and this is a great thing.

In Snark Busters 2: All Revved Up, players are introduced to Jack Blair, race car driver extraordinaire. He’s a thrill seeker who ends up following in his grandfather’s footsteps – disappearing without a trace. The reporter makes a return this title, adding in the little news segments, and we even get to visit her studio and save her from something nasty. Just as in the first one, we’re left with a cliff hanger, wondering what’s going to happen next. We wonder if they’ve written out a storyline for these games and, if so, how many are slated for release.

From developer Sunray Games comes Mystic Diary: Lost Brother, a hidden object adventure that is far too short to be worthwhile. Clocking in at around three hours of gameplay tops, the game has an interesting storyline and a fun hidden object aspect that, if longer, would have made this a recommended game for any hidden object fans.

The story involves two brothers, one who is lost, as the title implies. The brother who is not lostÂ goes looking for his archeologist sibling, Gustav. The not lost brother has magical powers, albeit supposedly limited, and he finds the Mystic Diary, which allows him to teleport around to any location, provided he has a photo of it. The ending is expected, but still feels unfinished. There seemed to be leanings towards a bad guy who tore up a photo in one level, but there’s no reference to anyone other than Gustav and his magical brother looking for the book.Â We won’tÂ spoil the ending, but it’s a decentÂ attempt at a twist that falls just short of believable.

Cave Quest is a matching game with a few hidden object levels. The basic premise is to match at least three tiles to move the characters along a path, but several levels have extra twists, such as locked blocks, growing vines that have to be cleared and ice blocks that take multiple hits to clear. There are several power-ups that help clear the hard levels, so it never gets too complicated. The nice mix of static and moving boards and the hidden object and adventure tasks in between really make this a top notch title.

The story is cute, but it ends rather abruptly. A father, mother, grandfather and brother have all gone missing and it’s up to the sister to solve the mystery and rescue them from an evil, immortal king. Along the way, she’ll be aided by a Shaman, a shopkeeper and her family as she rescues them. Objects are hidden in the world and gained by either completing hidden object levels or matching boards. Hot spots in each screen are pretty obvious and it’s never too hard to figure out what to do with the limited inventory items. Once the final family member is rescued, the game congratulates the player and says the end. It let me wanting a little more drama.